Having a master’s degree doesn’t make you an expert in helping people who are hurting – only compassion does!
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SHAUNA: Hey there, this is Shauna on Joni Eareckson Tada Sharing Hope. I can’t wait for you to hear this message from Joni about one of her friends. I know you will be blessed so, listen in.
JONI: I want to tell you about my friend, Teresa. She’s a registered nurse and a workaholic. And she’ll be the first to admit it. Last summer she was studying super hard to get her master’s degree. Now Teresa’s the kind of person who meticulously organized her time so that she knew she had so many hours to devote to church, to clean house, to shop, so many hours to run errands, and just the right number of hours to devote to studying for her post-graduate degree. I mean, this woman had all her plates spinning just so and nothing [absolutely nothing] dared upset her balance.
Well, Teresa was halfway through her semester when she learned that her husband planned for the two of them to serve as short-term missionaries at our Family Retreats this summer. Earlier in the year they had talked about it, and Teresa thought that they had agreed that “No, we'll wait till next year when the master’s degree is behind us.” Well, her husband must have missed that, because they received our orientation booklet from our ministry, and they were signed up to go. Needless to say, Teresa was not a happy camper.
So she did what any workaholic would do: she packed up all her books and took them with her to Family Retreat. Teresa sequestered herself away in a corner of the cafeteria with her laptop and papers. By the morning of the second day, she had read over 300 pages and was making detailed notes on her computer and that is when it happened. Teresa accidentally deleted the entire file on her laptop. She sat back so infuriated with herself, and that's when the miracle happened.
On her way back to her room, frustrated and angry, she ran into one of the parents who asked if Teresa would please join her and her autistic son down at the pool. Teresa thought, “Ugh, well, why not, everything else is a mess!” So, she threw her books in her room, put on her swimsuit, and headed with them down to the pool. The little boy with autism got so excited that Teresa joined them, splashing, playing with her in the pool. And right there, laughing with the children, helping them in and out of their wheelchairs, this nurse felt ten years of stress melt away. Teresa wrote me later saying, “Joni, I now understand what a college classroom could never have taught me – that to care for a boy with autism and to share the life of Christ is far more valuable than any master’s degree any day!”
Philippians 1 says that if we have any compassion at all, we are going to care about the needs of others. Compassion always “does” something about a need. It doesn't just talk about it or feel about it, or study about it. Compassion doesn't research or examine the need, and when it comes to people's real hurts, having a master’s degree doesn't make us an expert in helping that hurt. Only compassion does!
SHAUNA: So friend, why not show your compassion and come volunteer at one of our Joni and Friends Family Retreats this summer? You will be so blessed just like Teresa was. And I promise you as someone who has served at almost 20 Family Retreats now, God won’t just use you to transform the lives of people struggling with disabilities, he will transform your life in the process, and you don’t need a master’s degree to do it. And, hey, if you need more inspiration visit us today at joniradio.org. Again, that’s joniradio.org. Onward and upward!
© Joni and Friends